Sadly needed ~ Tennessee looks to make Antisemitism illegal

After thousands of years of Jews being cruelly vilified as the victims of numerous pogroms and the Nazi Holocaust, the need for this legislation gives credence to the fact that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. This "echo" is an opinion letter published in The Tennessean newspaper.  

This letter was written in response to a report in The Tennessean "Time to Stop Anti-Semitism in Tennessee"* by Laurie Cardoza-Moore

Nazi Holocaust Watchtower

In support of the Anti-Semitic Awareness Act

As a concerned American and Tennessean, I am encouraging my fellow citizens state-wide to let their voices of support be heard for the Anti-Semitic Awareness Act being championed in the current Tennessee legislative session by Tennessee State Sen. Dolores Gresham, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and State House Rep. Judd Matheny.

The bill comes in the wake of the Anti-Defamation League’s recent report that violence and incidents against Jews in the U.S. was up by 86 percent in 2017. This is the largest single yearly increase since the ADL began tracking anti-Semitic incidents.

From Anti-Semitic indoctrination in our children’s K-12 textbooks to violence against Jewish students on college campuses, we must not tolerate this age-old hatred coming against our Jewish communities In Tennessee.

We cannot afford to lose our children to hatred or wait until anti-Semitic vitriol and incitement spills over into violence and bloodshed on Tennessee university campuses and beyond into the open community.

By enacting the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, the Tennessee Department of Education can apply the U.S. State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism to determine if a federal investigation is warranted due to violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

With the new challenges Israel and the Jewish people are facing, we must with one voice as Tennesseans and as Americans say, ‘Never again!’ Thus, I am strongly urging a state-wide phone/email support campaign on the passage of the Anti-Semitic Awareness Act in Tennessee.  ~Laurie Cardoza-Moore, Franklin 37067

*Just a generation after the Holocaust, Jews are once again the subject of a growing global wave of hatred and violence.

This, in the face of a new generation of “holocaust deniers” and young people who perpetrate persecution and anti-Semitism on college campuses across the U.S.

Unfortunately, we are not immune here in the State of Tennessee where incidents of anti-Semitism on our college campuses have made headlines in recent months.

In our generation, we are witnessing the return of intense hatred from the same poisonous seeds from which the holocaust grew. Can we truly say “never again” with confidence?

At the University of Memphis and Middle Tennessee State University, inflammatory tweets in recent months against Jewish students were epidemic — many of them attributed to members of The Muslim Students Association (MSA) and the Students For Justice in Palestine (SJP) — both organizations with known ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

At University of Tennessee Knoxville, social media postings from current and former students also included an SJP erected “wall” on a faculty member’s door, replete with swastikas and espousing terrorism and violence against the Jews.

At Vanderbilt, swastikas were spray painted in the Jewish fraternity house, Alpha Epsilon Pi.

These anti-Semitic incidents are in direct violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act as it pertains to the security of the Jewish students on university campuses.

Historically, Tennessee has the tragic blemish of being the first American state where a major anti-Semitic crime was reported. In 1868, Jewish merchant Samuel Bierfield was accosted by the Ku Klux Klan for employing a black man in his store on Main Street in Franklin.

Pulled from his store and shot, the incident made national headlines. “Murderous outrage in Franklin” blasted the New York Times, while the Jewish Messenger added, “living in Tennessee can hardly be recommended.”

As Tennesseans, we have since proven the latter to be wrong as we have long embraced and deeply appreciated the Jewish culture and people who have so enriched our lives and communities. This is why all citizens of good conscience in our state should welcome and support the introduction of the “Tennessee Anti-Semitism Awareness Bill” by our State legislature (House Bill 885/Senate Bill 581, presently deferred to summer study).

The bill seeks to empower our educational institutions while being careful to protect our students First Amendment rights. It encourages the authorities to use the U.S. State Department’s clear definition of anti-Semitism that is accepted worldwide, because without a proper definition of the problem it is impossible to implement a solution.

As the founder of a Christian pro-Israel organization here in Tennessee, I can tell you from the messages that daily cross my desk, anti-Semitism isn’t just a Jewish issue or a far off global issue — it’s an American and Christian issue.

God tells us in Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you (Israel).”

As a Judeo-Christian nation by birth, America has historically proven herself to be a true blessing and a friend to Israel and the Jewish people.

Ultimately, with the global and national challenges Israel and the Jewish people now face, we must with one voice, as Tennesseans, Christians and Americans say, “Never again!”

Laurie Cardoza-Moore is president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), www.pjtn.org. She is based in Nashville.

Sad to read how the evils of Antisemitism must be addressed by  statute.